60th Congress, I HOUSE OF REPRESENT ATI VP:S. I Document 

1st Session. \ \ No. 621. 



TO CONVEY CERTAIN LANDS IN OTOE AND MISSOURIA 
RESERVATION, OKLA., TO SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 



LETTER 

FROM 

THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, 



SUBMITTING 



A DRAFT OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION TO ENABLE CERTAIN 
LANDS IN THE OTOE AND MISSOURIA INDIAN RESERVATIONS 
IN OKLAHOMA TO BE CEDED TO THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 



February 5, 1908. —Referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and ordered to be 

printed. * 



Department of the Interior, 

Washington., February 5, 1908. 
Sir: The act of Congress approved June 21, 1906 (34 Stat. L., 325, 
365), provides in part: 

That any missionary society or rehgions organization now occupying, under proper 
authority," for religious or educational work among the Indians, any of the lands in 
the Territory of Oklahoma heretofore ceded to the United States by the Indians there- 
tofore occupying the same and reserved to such societies or organizations for such 
religious uses on the schedules of allotments approved by the Secretary of the Inte- 
rior, shall have the right for two years within which to make application for a patent 
therefor; and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed, upon 
such application, to issue patents in fee to»such religious societies or organizations, 
severally, for the lands so occupied, not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres to any 
one institution: Provided, That where such Indians, in their agreement under which 
the lands were ceded and allotted, reserved to themselves a reversionary interest in 
such lands, such religious society or organization shall pay therefor a fair valuation 
to be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior, not to be less "than the price paid such 
Indians by the United States for the lands so ceded, and the proceeds therefrom shall 
be placed to the credit of the tribes or bands by whom such lands were ceded. 

Under this act the associated executive committee of Friends on 
Indian Affairs applied for a patent in fee for several tracts of land 
occupied by the Friends in their work among the Indians of Okla- 
homa. Among other things, they asked for a patent for the -±0 acres 
of land upon which their improvements in the former Otoe and 
Missouria Reservation are situated. However, the Otoe and Missouria 
Reservation was purchased with funds Vjelonging to the tribe under the 



^l LANDS TO SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 

provisions of the act of March 3, 1881 (21 Stat. L., 380), and these 
Indians have never ceded that part of their reservation in the occu- 
pancy of the Friends. Hence it was not possible to issue the patent 
desired. 

1 believe that some provision should be made wherebj^ a patent ma}" 
issue to the S^ociety of Friends for the lands in question. Of course 
some compensation should be made and the matter adjusted to the 
satisfaction of the Indians, inasmuch as they have a valid reversionary 
interest in the lands so occupied. 

The inclosed draft of a bill has been prepared to accomplish this 
purpose, and I recommend its enactment into law. 
Respectfully, 

.Fames Rudolph Garfield, 

8ecr('taini. 

The Speaker of the House of Representatives. 



A BILL To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey by fee simple patent certain lands in the 
Otoe and Missouria^Reservation, Oklahoma, to the Society of Friends. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he hereby is, author- 
ized to convey by patent in fee simple the tract of land, not exceeding forty acres, 
occupied by the Society of Friends in the former Otoe and Missouria Keservation in 
Oklahoma for religious, school, and other purposes, to such board of trustees as the 
proper officers of the said society shall designate: Provided, however, That no convey- 
ance shall be made without the consent of the Indians and the payment by said 
society of a just compensation for the lands to be conveyed, the price to be fixed by 
the Secretary of the Interior: And provided further, That the moneys derived from 
such source shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of 
the Otoe and Missouria Indians, to be expended for their benefit in the discretion of 
the Secretary of the Interior under such regulations as he may prescribe. 

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